Who benefits the most from a diet rich in low-fat dairy products?
Women. “What we found is that women who consumed at least three servings of low-fat dairy foods per day were at the lowest risk of becoming obese,” said Zemel. “In fact, there was an 80 percent reduction in risk for any given level of calorie intake.” It’s tempting to cut out the dairy foods when we want to lose weight, but when you do this, Zemel says it sends a signal to your body to conserve calcium, which in turn creates higher levels of the hormone calcitriol. It’s calcitriol that triggers the production of fat cells. When the calcitriol levels are boosted, fat cells expand and store themselves in the body. Translation: You get fat. But when you eat dairy foods, you get more calcium. And calcium suppresses the calcitriol. That in turn breaks down more fat. All you really need to do is drink two glasses of fat-free milk daily. That will keep your calorie count in check and boost your metabolism.
